1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to devices for facilitating the sealing of joints at the corners of structures such as recreational vehicles, towable trailers, buildings and similar structures, and, more particularly to corner rail extrusions.
2. Background Art
The general concept of employing means for facilitating sealing of joints in the construction of structures such as towable trailers, motorized recreational vehicles, buildings (particularly metal buildings) and similar structures is known in the prior art. For many of these types of structures, a substantially rigid frame is provided, which consists of structural support members, such as studs. The structural support members of the frame support and mount walls on the exterior of the frame. The walls are formed as prefabricated panels placed on the exterior of the frame formed by the structural support members. Corners are formed at the junctures of adjacent panels lying in different, but typically perpendicular planes. Also typically, one of the adjacent panels is intended to overlap the adjacent support member by the thickness of the adjacent panel. In this manner, the adjacent panels lie in perpendicular planes which meet at a butt joint.
In the practice of prior art methods of construction, the tolerances in the dimensions of prefabricated panels are typically not sufficiently small so as to permit the assembly of adjacent walls and proper butt joints. Accordingly, the adjacent panels lying in perpendicular planes typically meet to form an internal (or reverse) 90° opening (or gap), rather than a true butt joint. For purposes of sealing, and as known in the prior art methods of construction, a layer of butyl tape may be sandwiched between the panels and an extruded metal corner rail. By nature, the butyl tape is somewhat tacky, and can be temporarily secured by its inherent tackiness to the inner surface of the extruded corner rail during assembly. With the corner rail, butyl tape and the underlying panel are secured to adjacent and underlying support members by means of mechanical fasteners, such as screws (or, in the case of truck applications, pop rivets). The butyl tape is thereafter trimmed to size.
One disadvantage of the use of butyl tape is the density of the tape. Butyl tape is typically of such a density that it does not conforms to corrugations, variations or other irregularities in the exterior surface of the panels. Accordingly, gaps are left which can then lead to water or other types of leakage or damage. Correspondingly, the butyl tape does not conform to the gap (or internal (reverse) 90° angle) formed at the juncture of adjacent panels meeting in perpendicular planes. Instead, the butyl plate simply spans the gap without conforming to the edges of the panels. Accordingly, the butyl tape does not perform a proper sealing function at the aforementioned gap and, further, creates a channel through which water can run, thereby infiltrating the joint. The use of butyl tape is further disadvantageous in that butyl tape typically dries out and chemically breaks down after a period of use. The butyl tape can then fall out, resulting in further gaps into which water can infiltrate. Still further, the use of butyl material has another disadvantage, in that it tends to expand when subjected to heat and, further, is subject to migration away from pressure, such that the butyl tape tends (when exposed to hot weather) to creep away from the fasteners and corner rail. This creeping movement creates gaps which can permit further water infiltration, as well as create cosmetic problems.
Other devices are known for purposes of facilitating the sealing of corner joints, with respect to other types of corners and panel elements. For example, Larson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,836 issued Apr. 10, 2001 describes a self-aligning drywall corner bead. The corner bead includes an arcuately profiled elongated central portion. The central portion includes two lateral edges for defining a concave and a convex surface. Flanges extend from each of the lateral edges and are unilaterally formed therewith. The concave surface includes a pair of longitudinal rails extending at about 90° one from the other, at the geometrical center line of a concave surface. The rails serve to align the corner bead with the underlying drywall, when applied over a drywall corner in a conventional manner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of constructing corners of motorized recreational vehicles, towable trailers, buildings (particularly metal buildings) and similar structures. The corners so constructed facilitate leak resistance by means of the minimization or substantial elimination of gaps through which water or other materials may infiltrate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a durable, long lasting seal between a corner rail and the underlying adjacent panels at a corner of a motorized recreational vehicle, towable trailer, building (particularly metal building) or similar structure.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method of constructing a corner of a motorized recreational vehicle, towable trailer, building (particular metal building) or similar structure whereby the corner can be assembled by one person. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a corner construction for motorized recreational vehicles, towable trailers, buildings (particularly metal buildings) and similar structures whereby a positive seal is formed against the juncture between adjacent panels.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of constructing corners of motorized recreational vehicles, towable trailers, buildings (particularly metal buildings) and similar structures so as to compensate for fabrication tolerances.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a corner assembly for motorized recreational vehicles, towable trailers, buildings (particularly metal buildings) and similar structures which accommodates and compensates for variations in panel surface smoothness.